1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to paper machines, and, more particularly, to a control system used to control physical components of the paper machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
A paper machine receives a prepared fiber suspension and produces a fiber web, such as a paper web. The physical parameters of the fiber suspension which is supplied to the paper machine, such as the pressure, temperature, chemical content, etc. in turn affect the physical characteristics of the fiber web manufactured by the paper machine. It is known to laboratory test a small portion of the fiber web to determine the physical characteristics thereof. After the fiber web is tested, valves, feed screws, pumps or the like may be manually actuated to add a predetermined amount of energy (e.g., heat) or chemical (e.g., calcium carbonate, titanium dioxide, etc.) to the fiber suspension to affect the physical characteristics of the manufactured web. Since this process is manually adjusted, the delay time between obtaining a sample of paper and finally adjusting a device within the approach flow system may be extensive. This means that a relatively large amount of paper may be produced which does not have optimum physical characteristics.
What is needed in the art is a paper machine which automatically adjusts for at least some of the physical parameters associated with the fiber suspension to thereby improve the quality of the fiber web.